Bio-smart materials in prosthodontics-New era in dentistry

Last few decades have seen emergence of newer dental materials with enhanced biological properties. Search for an ideal restorative material leads to the discovery of entirely newer generation of materials called the “smart materials”. These materials are said to be smart as they can be altered by different types of stimulus such as temperature, moisture, ph, stress, electric and magnetic field, etc. These materials have the inherent quality to sense any change in the environment and react according to such changes. Thus, they are called “responsive materials”. Usage of these smart materials has revolutionised dentistry. There are various smart materials available such as smart composites, compomers, smart ceramics, smart impression materials, etc.